Saturday morning and I am, typically, in bed. James' soccer game isn't until 11:00. Whoo hoo! I love a Saturday morning with a book, a cup of creamy coffee, and the house all quiet and gentle sounding around me. Birds are flitting around in the blooming lilac outside my window- it's like a Disney cartoon. (I am definitely not Snow White, I think I'd have to be one of those fairy godmothers. sigh...) Dan is off hunting for Morels. before the game...

I've got to stir though, readings to do... That's a good reason to stir. Take advantage of the sale. And here I go- hitting the Beyond. (I like to linger on the "Bed, Bath"... and am more reluctant about the "Beyond"... hehehe)

Saturday night- 7:30- doing readings and jamming with headphones- what's in my ears?
Jackson Browne- My Problem is you
Cheryl Wheeler- Ghandi/Buddha
Some Bob Schneider
Life is good.

I babysat for Aden's big sister yesterday and man, am I out of practice with four-year-olds! It was exhausting! She wants me with her all the time, which is fun, but I had kinda gotten out of the habit of doing that AND making dinner, doing dishes, etc. With Margaret and James, my 15 and 16 year-old, they do everything they can to do stuff WITHOUT me, it was a mind-blowing to have someone who wants me all the time. We had fun though- card games, playing on the swing, and she always helps me cook.

Then, her parents arrived for dinner with Aden, and oh my GAWD, do I LOVE babies. I picked him up and couldn't put him down, a snuggly little sweet-smelling nugget, ummmmm. We call it "baby dingo-ing" in honor of Meryl Streep's "The Dingo took my baby!" - you take the bay and hold it just as long as possible. My bro-in-law Tony has perfected the art, to the point where his nickname is "Uncle Dingo". I dingoed that baby all night!

Weird moment when my daughter complained to my son about me, and asked him if she could hold the baby. A cog slipped for me as I realized HE was in charge of his baby, and really isn't my son in that instance.

Hey, I'm having a sale for my faithful-

Hello to you all!

Well kids, my son and his wife had their baby, a beautiful 9lb 3oz boy (I'm calling him "Super-baby" because he's so strong!). That's the good news. The bad news is, I'm having a hard time adjusting to my new title- Grandma. I hardly feel old enough for it, and it makes me feel like I need to get some orthopedic shoes or something. Sigh. If anyone has a cute grandma nickname, let me know!!!

To celebrate the birth I am offering a Spring Sale, the Conversation reading, now only $30.00- regularly $35.00, with the offer available until 5/14/08. This is a special, unadvertised sale, for A Taste of Tarot Customers only! The Conversation reading rarely gets discounted, take advantage of this great deal!
I wish you all peace,
Laura, the ever-pesky
http://www.atasteoftarot.com/

Then I sent out this-
Hey all,
I mailed a sale offer this morning, and wanted to give an update. When you buy a reading and click submit after completing your personality form, you are going to get an error message. However, I AM getting the forms. I have to reinstall my frontpage extensions to get the error message to go away, and when I do that, my site will be down for a few hours. So, I am going to do that this evening.

So, if you submit a form and get an error message rest assured I'm getting your info. And if you get to my site late tonight and it's down for awhile, never fear- we'll be back up and running in an hour or two!

It was great hearing from all you guys!!!
xxoolaura

Happy Friday, and buy a reading!!!

Aden Conner Desmet made the scene on April 23, weighing in at a bouncing 9lbs 3 ozs and 21.5 inches long- he's a definite keeper. It's harder to adjust to the grandma title than it is to the child! He's a super-baby like his Uncle James was- he's holding his head up and has rolled over twice in his first week!

This weekend is much more mellow than last week- James and I did "meals-on-wheels" for Danny and Denise all weekend. We pretty much cooked non-stop; minestrone soup, oriental shrimp linguine, from scratch egg rolls and roast chicken. This weekend I seem to be in the same mode making garlic cheese rolls and 6 bean salad. Dan is out grilling steaks as the day threatens to rain on him; the wind is so strong it sounds like it's demanding the house take off and fly with it. A wind too strong even for kites... But the house holds firm, and all is cozy in my world and life today, hanging out with my boys and being thankful thankful thankful to be right where I am.

Nancy and I had a STELLAR trip to San Diego! What a fun place, and it was so cool- we didn't need a car; we walked or trammed everywhere. Our Hotel was right on the Embarcadero, and we had an amazing view of the Bay- cruise ships docked directly across from our room! We had lots of good walks, talks, and sight-seeing- Balboa Park and Old Town by Trolley. We are good traveling buddies; feeling ready to rock, ready to eat and ready to sleep at the same times...

On Saturday we took the trolley to the border and walked into Mexico, although we were warned at the hotel about "three hour waits at the border" and at the train station that "you have a 40% chance of being kidnapped..." The guy at the duty-free shop said we'd be fine in the tourist section, so feeling daring, we went for it. It was GREAT shopping- we both got silver necklaces, and I got some really cool day-of-the-dead figures. However, there were VERY FEW tourists- the rumors of trouble in Tijuana must be killing the tourism income.

After an interesting lunch (a. tasty, but didn't want to look at the meat in the taco too closely, B. lunch was $6.00, a can of pop $3.00, c. it took so long we thought there may not have been a kitchen in the restaurant, we mused about where the the food was coming from...) the waiter hailed us a taxi- a crazed, road-raging, expletive-spewing cab driver. He would slow the cab to yell out the window at drivers or pedestrians that annoyed him. (And they ALL did...) He had insisted I sit in the front seat, then went into frustration mode when I didn't understand all he was saying. (I DID understand that "Muy stupido" was directed at me, and some of his language was foul universally...) When I did the "passenger braking movement" on my side as he whizzed through the stop signs, he clucked disappointedly, "Lady, this is NOT America, this is MEXICO..." and muttered some more stupidos...

He drove us through the bowels of Tijuana, while Nancy and I threw each other stealthy worried glances, and I praised his driving skills,pretty sure he was just crazy and not a kidnapper, but with a 10% doubt in my mind... Finally he drove us to this long line of shuffling people, very few Americans, in a dirty section of town. He started shouting, "Get out get out GET OUT...." and pointed at the line. Nancy and I sprang from the cab with mixed feelings- out ot the cab was GOOD, but where the Hell were we??? We started walking toward the end of the line... and walking.... and walking.... as it snaked around foreveerrrrr.

Finally we reached the end, and figured- THIS is the 3 hour wait. Next thought- Is this the line to get back into the US at all? It was all Mexicans- but then the tourism is really down so that was not so odd. We shuffled along for awhile, and the line was really moving surprisingly fast. (and getting longer and longer behind us...) Nancy finally saw some other obvious tourists, and we ascertained this WAS the line to cross into the US.

The line itself was interesting, again, it moved pretty fast, and there were people selling tacos and churros from stands as we shuffled by. Random stray dogs poked around in the weeds for any scraps, and looked unsatisfied. More of the many "Farmacias" trying to sell last minute prescriptions, with the guys wearing their "official" white pharmacy jackets, standing out in front. Everyone has a cellphone no matter how rich or poor.

We met a couple of great kids in line behind us, raised in Mexico and going to college in San Diego (In Mexico partying with friends because the drinking age is 20...) they were crossing back to go to work in San Diego. They were both Rotten Tomatoes Fans Timmy- but then who isn't!!!! We bonded with them until we hit the border and got separated in the customs lines, waving and saying goodbye. The wait was actually only an hour!!! The line was kinda cool...

But Customs was way serious, it's not the kind of place where you want to joke around. But it was more fascinating than scary, we all showed our birth certificates or passports, while on the US side these people were being taken away in handcuffs, which were all linked to a leash-like chain, while the customs officer walked in front of the line holding the chain and carrying a covered box. Hmmm... What was inside? I have no idea idea, but I'm glad I didn't have any of it!!!

Nancy and I passed through with no problems and walked back into the US! YEAH!!!
It was a really cool adventure. The day before I went to San Diego I got a fortune in a fortune cookie that said "You will have a four-wheeled adventure" It kinda came true!!!

The line to go across the border...

Well, San Diego was absolutely life-affirming. So wonderful to get away and take a break, and fabulous to have a bunch of time with my sister-normally when we get together it's a holiday or a big event, this time it was all about us. We have a great travel-rhythm together, getting hungry, tired or ready -to-rock at the same time.

My bed was by the balcony, and all night I watched the lights on the Bay, wishing I could absorb the sight and save it for cold Michigan days. We were on the Embarcadero, and every morning I would look out to see what was happening by the water. We were directly across from the cruise ship dock, and it was berry cool to lay in bed and watch the big ships dock.

Now I'm home, and we're in a countdown, waiting for my grandchild to be born!

Hello hello! I am off to San Diego today with my wonderful sister Nancy, until Sunday the 30th. WHOO HOO! The country mouse hits the road!

Happy Leap year! And Happy Birthday to my sweet Uncle Claude, a leap year baby, who turns 96(!!) today! He's pictured here at Lake May with his Great-grandaughter Indigo. He's turning 96 but since he's a leap Year baby, he's really only 24!



In honor of Leap Year I turn over a card, The Lovers. That's a sweet card to get today- all about partnerships, seeing eye-to-eye, a fulfilling love. And amazingly enough, that sounds about right. It wasn't always so- I think a card turned over on the last Leap Year would not have give me such a blessing.



I've been with Dan for 30 years, 27 married. We grew up together, faced some tough times, and it wasn't always easy. ummm, that's an understatement. There were some nights I went to bed planning the perfect murder. I'm sure he did, too. There's that old joke, "I've been married 27 years- 2 of them happily..."



But even when all that hating was going on, underneath it all, there was love. It was just getting layers on angry sediment on top of it. And now, in the last year, we have finally had a love resurrection. When I was angry with Dan I always took my problems to other people. After awhile, my friends became more important to me, and I shared less and less of myself with Dan. And he's not a big chatty guy. He got surly and withdrew, I think he was resentful of my diverted attention, but he's not the kind of guy to say it. He just closed off to me.



We started working our way back to each other, I readjusted the way I responded to him. And he started opening up to me. My time-consuming friendships wound up going by the wayside, and I saw how much they had CONSUMED my life. All of a sudden Dan and I were telling each other about our day again, that ease with each other brought us to a firmer union, and we remembered all that love buried in the sediment of our marriage. We were really LIKING each other again- you can love someone but not really LIKE him, we're having fun again. We're really happy again.



So, my point here is: 4 years ago I would have gotten a much gloomier card to represent my marriage- I'm sure it would have pointed out the pain and the problems, but